diff --git a/src/EterLib/BlockTexture.cpp b/src/EterLib/BlockTexture.cpp
index f8464d5..d2b3e31 100644
--- a/src/EterLib/BlockTexture.cpp
+++ b/src/EterLib/BlockTexture.cpp
@@ -94,7 +94,16 @@ void CBlockTexture::Render(int ix, int iy)
 		STATEMANAGER.SetTexture(0, m_lpd3dTexture);
 		STATEMANAGER.SetTexture(1, NULL);
 		STATEMANAGER.SetFVF(D3DFVF_XYZ|D3DFVF_TEX1|D3DFVF_DIFFUSE);
+
+		STATEMANAGER.SaveRenderState(D3DRS_ALPHABLENDENABLE, TRUE);
+		STATEMANAGER.SaveRenderState(D3DRS_SRCBLEND, D3DBLEND_SRCALPHA);
+		STATEMANAGER.SaveRenderState(D3DRS_DESTBLEND, D3DBLEND_INVSRCALPHA);
+
 		STATEMANAGER.DrawIndexedPrimitive(D3DPT_TRIANGLELIST, 0, 4, 0, 2);
+
+		STATEMANAGER.RestoreRenderState(D3DRS_DESTBLEND);
+		STATEMANAGER.RestoreRenderState(D3DRS_SRCBLEND);
+		STATEMANAGER.RestoreRenderState(D3DRS_ALPHABLENDENABLE);
 	}
 }
 
@@ -141,10 +150,7 @@ void CBlockTexture::InvalidateRect(const RECT & c_rsrcRect)
 	{
 		for (int i = 0; i < iclipWidth; ++i)
 		{
-			if (pdwSrc[i])
-				pdwDst[i] = pdwSrc[i] | 0xff000000;
-			else
-				pdwDst[i] = 0;
+			pdwDst[i] = pdwSrc[i];
 		}
 		pdwDst += dwDstWidth;
 		pdwSrc += dwSrcWidth;
diff --git a/src/EterLib/FontManager.cpp b/src/EterLib/FontManager.cpp
index 8a88703..3181de3 100644
--- a/src/EterLib/FontManager.cpp
+++ b/src/EterLib/FontManager.cpp
@@ -62,8 +62,11 @@ bool CFontManager::Initialize()
 
 	// Common Latin fonts
 	m_fontPathMap["arial"] = "arial.ttf";
+	m_fontPathMap["arial bold"] = "arialbd.ttf";
 	m_fontPathMap["tahoma"] = "tahoma.ttf";
+	m_fontPathMap["tahoma bold"] = "tahomabd.ttf";
 	m_fontPathMap["verdana"] = "verdana.ttf";
+	m_fontPathMap["verdana bold"] = "verdanab.ttf";
 	m_fontPathMap["times new roman"] = "times.ttf";
 	m_fontPathMap["courier new"] = "cour.ttf";
 	m_fontPathMap["segoe ui"] = "segoeui.ttf";
diff --git a/src/EterLib/TextBar.cpp b/src/EterLib/TextBar.cpp
index 776183c..07d9843 100644
--- a/src/EterLib/TextBar.cpp
+++ b/src/EterLib/TextBar.cpp
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 #include <utf8.h>
 
 #include <ft2build.h>
-#include FT_BITMAP_H
+#include FT_FREETYPE_H
 
 #include <cmath>
 
@@ -22,8 +22,17 @@ static struct STextBarGammaLUT {
 
 void CTextBar::__SetFont(int fontSize, bool isBold)
 {
-	// Create a per-instance FT_Face (this instance owns it)
-	m_ftFace = CFontManager::Instance().CreateFace("Tahoma");
+	// Load bold font variant if available, otherwise fall back to regular
+	if (isBold)
+	{
+		m_ftFace = CFontManager::Instance().CreateFace("Tahoma Bold");
+		if (!m_ftFace)
+			m_ftFace = CFontManager::Instance().CreateFace("Tahoma");
+	}
+	else
+	{
+		m_ftFace = CFontManager::Instance().CreateFace("Tahoma");
+	}
 	if (!m_ftFace)
 		return;
 
@@ -109,11 +118,6 @@ void CTextBar::TextOut(int ix, int iy, const char * c_szText)
 			continue;
 
 		FT_GlyphSlot slot = m_ftFace->glyph;
-
-		// Apply synthetic bold (32 = 0.5px embolden; 64 = 1px was too aggressive)
-		if (m_isBold && slot->bitmap.buffer)
-			FT_Bitmap_Embolden(CFontManager::Instance().GetLibrary(), &slot->bitmap, 32, 0);
-
 		FT_Bitmap& bitmap = slot->bitmap;
 
 		int bmpX = penX + slot->bitmap_left;
diff --git a/src/EterPythonLib/PythonGraphicModule.cpp b/src/EterPythonLib/PythonGraphicModule.cpp
index 2acf8b1..ac8e815 100644
--- a/src/EterPythonLib/PythonGraphicModule.cpp
+++ b/src/EterPythonLib/PythonGraphicModule.cpp
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ PyObject* grpCreateBigTextBar(PyObject* poSelf, PyObject* poArgs)
 	if (!PyTuple_GetInteger(poArgs, 2, &iFontSize))
 		return Py_BuildException();
 
-	CTextBar * pTextBar = new CTextBar(iFontSize, true);
+	CTextBar * pTextBar = new CTextBar(iFontSize, false);
 	if (!pTextBar->Create(iWidth, iHeight))
 	{
 		delete pTextBar;